The Blue Devils have forced six turnovers so far this year, so they clearly have the capability to pounce if the Hurricanes are again sloppy with the ball.

So in practice this week, the Hurricanes planned to keep doing one of Shannon's favorite drills: Hitting ballcarriers and quarterbacks with oversized pads as they run past, trying to knock the ball from their grasp.

"We stress turnovers a lot," Cooper said. "Coach always stresses, 'We don't turn the ball over.' We put that on our team goals before every game, and I feel like I let the team down even though everybody was still on my side."

Shannon wasn't exactly ebullient as he entered his postgame news conference following Miami's 34-17 win over Texas A&M. Giving up 17 fourth-quarter points soured his mood a bit, as did the Hurricanes' three lost fumbles.

Cooper lost the ball after trying to spin away from a tackle for his first fumble, then had another turnover on a run late in the third quarter when he got popped as he darted through the right side of the line.

But he's hardly the only one in Shannon's crosshairs on this topic; the coach also faulted Kyle Wright for his fumble against the Aggies, which was the quarterback's second giveaway on a rush attempt in as many games.

"It's not that the leash is short," Shannon said. "Let Kyle keep fumbling the way he is; we'll get him out of the game. Everybody's got to be that way. ... Turnovers can demoralize you on offense. It's not just a person, but turnovers in general. We work on it every day and we're going to work even harder this week."

Wright doesn't want to learn what the repercussions of more fumbles will be.

He's been essentially sharing carries with Javarris James so far, but more miscuses could press Shannon into giving other running backs like Shawnbrey McNeal or Derron Thomas a bigger part of the game plan.

And when he gets the call against Duke on Saturday, Cooper says he won't be thinking about fumbling.